A QUESTION of this kind was brought under discussions few days ago, by a particular friend of ours, and one who ought to have known better, insisting that the inevitable Scuppernong is the best and most reliable as well as the most profitable of all grapes for the South. To this sweeping assertion, fashionable as it is getting to be, we could by no means yield an unqualified indorsement, and hence arose the discussion.

Although I have been for many years a practical grape grower, have watched the progress of this branch of industry in the. south with critical interest, and have read about everything that has been published upon the subject, I have never yet seen any proofs whatever that the assumptions of my enthusiastic friend are founded upon fact in any particular. Admitting that the Scuppernong is hardy, reliable in its crops, and, when properly handled, a good wine grape, it does not follow that it is either the most profitable or the best for this purpose. There is at present but little demand for native wines in the South - our population is too foreign in its character, the German, French, Italian and Spanish element is too prominent in our lower and middle classes, while those who have been accustomed to " Heidsick " will hardly tolerate the musky twang that gives to nearly all our native wines their distinctive character. We must, as a stepping stone from the use of foreign wines, have something a little less American - something that, while not exactly foreign in all its elements, shall yet so nearly simulate the popular foreign brands as to deceive the masses, and not wholly repel the connoisseur wine drinker.

Taking this view of the case, we cannot rank the Scuppernong as either the best or second best American wine grapes.

As for the fruit in a market point of view, I am disposed to give it even a lower grade than for wine. It is a poor eating grape until perfectly ripe, and then it is a poor shipping grape, as the skin bursts very easily at the stem and thus engenders fermentation and a shop-worn appearance throughout the whole. Its quality is never first rate in the estimation of most grape eaters, and it enters the market in a shape that is by no means popularly prepossessing - singly like plums and cranberries. It lacks the handsome bunch, the brilliant color and the delicate bloom that are so much admired in a grape, and which add so much to their commercial value. What have we that is better in all respects? Let us see.

The old reliable Concord is as hardy, productive and well-flavored, besides being much handsomer and coming into bearing much earlier. Let us take that for both wine and market. The wine from the Concord is less objectionably foxy to the cultivated taste, the yield is equally as great, and, under proper manipulation, is capable of assuming various grades and characters to suit the peculiar demands of the market. Except for its superabundance, it would be the best selling grape in our markets. Perhaps not inferior to the Concord, comes the Ives Seedling, one of the most reliable and productive in the whole list of grapes. The wine from it is most, excellent and quite free from foxiness, and the fruit ships well and sells at the very highest prices. Last season, in spite of the enormous grape crop in this section, we sold Ives at the rate of three hundred dollars per acre, and Concords at two hundred and forty!

But to close this brief grape talk, I will merely add that there is nothing else yet found that equals, for a rich, delicious American wine, the old Delaware - for a wise that the most exacting of wine tastes could find no fault with. But it is in the sale of fruit after all that the fruit grower will find his greatest profit - and for this nothing will excel the Concord and Ives. - James Parker, in Rural Alabamian.